We’re the Ramblers – standing still is not an option
There’s been lots of talk recently about the ‘new’ work that the Ramblers is doing - urban walks, encouraging new walkers, working with children and families. Some people have got the impression that this means we’re neglecting the traditional work that the Ramblers is famous for. It’s been suggested that we should just focus on what we’ve always done.
Firstly, the ‘new’ work isn’t actually that new. We’ve always been involved in encouraging people to walk. (The other day, I was reading a pamphlet that the Ramblers produced in 1939, called ‘Why Walk?’ which was extolling the health benefits of walking. It was a document ahead of its time – it could have been written yesterday!) Many groups have been putting on urban walks for years.
Secondly, it’s not a choice between doing ‘traditional’ work or ‘new’ work – it’s all about achieving the same goal. We’re the national walking charity for Britain – and we campaign for better places for people to walk (footpaths, access land, rights to the coast, good walking routes in cities or along rivers). We also get people out walking – either through our fantastic programme of group walks or through special projects like Get Walking, Keep Walking. It is not a question of either/or. We need to do new and traditional. And we need to attract funding from new sources – including from grants – to help us do so.
Standing still might sound attractive at first – but it is not a realistic option. We need to attract new members, new volunteers, and we have new campaigns to wage. We have to keep moving forward.
Areas and Groups will continue to campaign to protect and improve the public path network, with the support of staff from central office. One example of many: a path has been added to the map in Shiplake, Oxfordshire, with clear benefits for local people, after a local campaign supported with advice from central office staff. This coming year, our ambition is for 500 public paths to be unblocked, created, or added to definitive maps! We’re currently installing specialised computer software, so we can track our public path work better.
We will continue to show courage in our campaigning. One example – this week, we’ve sent out a press release for our South Dorset Group, which is opposing Prince Charles’ plans to expand his Poundbury estate, because we believe the plan reneges on earlier agreements for rights of way.
And we will still use legal action as a last resort. The money set aside for potential legal costs in the coming year is greater than that spent on legal fees in each of the past three. Legal work should never be our first option - we can often get further by working collaboratively. But we are prepared for it if we need to.
The vast majority of Ramblers walks have always been - and will continue to be - in the countryside. This is not going to change. Where groups want to, we support them putting on urban walks too. With so many people living in towns and cities, we want to encourage more urban walking groups to form. We also want a greater variety of walks, to suit different tastes. Led walks staff are there to help groups, if they want it, and to provide advice on safety and insurance matters.
One of our big successes over the past year has been getting the coastal access legislation through Parliament. The Marine and Coastal Access Bill is about to become law. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CROW) Section 3A Order (to amend the CROW Act as it applies to coastal land) is now out for consultation, earlier than expected - as we argued it should be. Over the coming year, staff will be helping gear up local volunteers to make sure we get the best route possible around our coastline.
It is a difficult time for the Ramblers, as for many other charities. We’ve had to cut back spending, there’s been redundancies, and we’re having to do things in different ways. With less money at the moment, we have to be more creative. We’re also making some mistakes, which are annoying people, and which we need to learn from.
But standing still is not an option.
Communicating electronically
We’ve moved wholesale to electronic communication over the past few months. This has not been popular with many volunteers, I admit. There again, we used to receive many complaints from volunteers about the old circular system - they complained were flooded with paper!
We’ve changed to electronic communication to help save money - over £100,000 a year. It also means that we can communicate better - faster, more direct. From October, as well as the information on the volunteers section of the website, we’ll be sending out an email with a list of recent news items - to all volunteers who we have email addresses for.
Some volunteers said that they wanted the archive of old circulars restored, as a reference - we’ve done this (on the Secretary’s page). We also know that there are a minority of volunteers who don’t have access at all to the internet - we’re going to find a way to provide a paper update for them. I also know of volunteers who are getting online for the first time, and enjoying the experience.
I know it’s caused a lot of upset, but I think in the long run it’ll be worth it.
Thank you
I can’t say it often enough. The Ramblers wouldn’t be the Ramblers without our thousands of volunteers. Thanks for making a difference for the Ramblers.
Enjoy some great Autumn walking.
Tom
